The Bromance Book Club (2019) by Lyssa Kay Adams is the first installment in the Bromance Book Club series, which has garnered significant attention, including a movie option and webcomic adaptation. Set against the backdrop of Nashville, Tennessee, the story follows professional baseball player Gavin Scott as he joins an underground men’s book club that reads romance novels to help improve their relationships. Through this playful premise, Adams subverts traditional gender stereotypes, providing valuable insights into modern masculinity, The Importance of Communication, Gendered Stereotypes and Norms, The Importance of Understanding, Partnership, and Support in Relationships, and the transformative power of vulnerability in love.

This guide is based on the 2019 Berkley e-book edition.

Plot Summary

Gavin Scott, star second baseman for the Nashville Legends, is blindsided when his wife of three years, Thea, asks for a divorce. Devastated, Gavin retreats to a dingy hotel room, where he drinks alcohol. His friend and teammate Delray “Del” Hicks and local club owner Braden Mack find him barely coherent enough to explain what happened. Gavin is reluctant to open up but internally acknowledges the real reason for the breakdown of his marriage: his poor reaction after discovering that Thea had been faking her orgasms throughout their entire relationship.

While Gavin struggles with his emotions, Thea immerses herself in a DIY home-renovation project. The work provides a distraction from the pain of her crumbling marriage and brings back memories of her parents’ divorce when she was 10 years old. Thea’s sister, Liv, arrives with Thea and Gavin’s twin daughters, Amelia and Ava, and they work together on the house. Their peace is interrupted when Gavin shows up, desperate to convince Thea to give their marriage another chance. Thea, however, is firm in her decision. She informs Gavin that she plans to keep the house post-divorce, and when Gavin tries to rekindle their connection with a kiss, it pushes Thea further away.

Del introduces Gavin to a secret book club where a group of powerful men read romance novels to help improve their romantic relationships. The members include men from various fields, all seeking to understand love through the lens of romantic fiction. Initially skeptical, Gavin reluctantly agrees to join and try to save his marriage. The group gives him a regency romance novel, Courting the Countess, in hopes it will help him learn how to reconnect with Thea. The parallels between Courting the Countess and Gavin’s situation quickly become apparent. In the book, the hero, Benedict Seymour, wrecks his marriage with Irena over a misunderstanding. Just like Gavin, Benedict works to win back his wife’s trust and affection.

Meanwhile, Thea and Liv reflect on how much Thea changed after marrying Gavin, molding herself to fit in with the WAGs (wives and girlfriends) of the other players. The pressure to conform to the image of a baseball wife slowly eroded Thea’s sense of self, contributing to the distance between her and Gavin.

Gavin and Thea have an awkward encounter at their twin daughters’ dance recital. Thea stands by Gavin when another parent is rude about his stutter, which Gavin has always been self-conscious about. A chance meeting with the principal reveals that Thea has applied to college, causing further tension. Afterward, the family goes out to dinner, where the twins reveal their emotional distress over their parents’ constant fighting and Gavin’s recent absence.

In a last-ditch effort to win back Thea, Gavin proposes a deal. He has one month to prove that their marriage is worth saving. If he fails, he will give Thea everything she wants in the divorce. Thea agrees, with strict conditions. Gavin moves back into the house right before Thanksgiving and announces they will spend the holiday at Del’s house. Thea, annoyed by Gavin’s impulsive decision, is further frustrated by his insistence on weekly dates and a nightly kiss as part of their deal.

Thanksgiving dinner at Del’s proves challenging for Thea, who struggles to fit in with the other WAGs, especially Rachel Tambor, who antagonizes her. Mack flirts with Thea, which enrages Gavin and causes him to punch Mack. The evening is a disaster, with Thea feeling isolated and Gavin realizing how little he understood her struggles to fit in.

After Thanksgiving, the twins fall ill. Gavin tries to help Thea with the cleanup, but his cluelessness about the day-to-day running of the household only exacerbates the situation. The following day, he takes the girls out Christmas shopping, giving Thea a break. Thea admits to Gavin that she has not responded to her father’s wedding invitation due to her estrangement from her father.

For their first date, Gavin takes Thea to an art supply shop, recognizing her passion for art. It goes well until Thea notices two men following them. It turns out that Mack and Vlad, another book club member, are tailing them. Despite the awkward interruption, Gavin and Thea share a kiss, and Gavin reads to her until she falls asleep.

Gavin and Thea attend the Legends’ Christmas party, but the team mostly avoids them, believing the couple to be bad luck. Tensions rise when Thea overhears Rachel badmouthing Gavin. In a heated exchange, Thea stands up for her husband, decisively winning the argument. Later, Gavin and Thea go to a hotel, where their renewed emotional intimacy leads to them rekindling their physical relationship.

Gavin’s dedication pays off as Thea begins to see genuine changes in him. However, their progress is interrupted when Thea discovers that Gavin has been reading romance novels to improve their relationship. She finds out that Gavin used lines from the book, verbatim, in his attempts to woo her. Angry and hurt, Thea confronts him, and when she avoids answering whether she still loves him, Gavin leaves for a team trip to New York.

Feeling abandoned again, Thea confides in Liv, who encourages her to address her unresolved issues. Thea decides to attend her father’s wedding to confront her past. Liv informs Gavin of Thea’s decision, prompting him to get off the plane and rush to the wedding. In a dramatic turn of events, Gavin interrupts the ceremony to reconcile with Thea. They exchange vows of forgiveness and commitment outside the church, choosing to renew their relationship.

On Christmas Eve, the couple is happily reunited, snuggled together and content.